I have no idea what you are trying to say Sir M. Martin? What I have written about this hypocrite Ernest O’Neill is TRUE because I know him personally. This guy inexorably suffered from uncontrollable money anxiety. As he is not intellectually bright he took the easy road. Became a minister in the Methodist church. But his first step to diminish his money anxiety was to marry a professional women, a dentist. However, as dentists do not make much (or did not 30 years back) in Ireland he used his Methodist Church credentials to apply for American visa.
Once in America his wife’s earnings more than doubled. that, however, was no enough for O’Neill to overcome his lust for more money and possibly fame. It is then he come up with this contradictory idea of “Business Ministry.” He had many fooled. Because the Methodist church would not stand for Ernest O’Neil’s tomfoolery he started his own church. In the post Vietnam War disillusionment era he found many young idealists in Minneapolis who bought this contradictory “business ministry” concept.
The worst part, however, of this “ministry” that people do not know is the exploitation of other people’s “labor of love.” Ernest O’Neil businesses never paid anyone more than the minimum wage. This was so because he was bound by the law. But the other aspect of it is not known to the world. Most workers were expected to or rather forced to work for more than 40 hours for which they were never paid. It was impossible for many, especially who were married, to live on minimum wage and still maintain family. It was a very abysmal scenario.
So do you think the economic plight of his many workers bothered Ernest O’Neill, this eloquent and magnetic minister of Jesus Christ? Of course not.
Ernest O’Neill has a heart of stone. He has no love. He has no concept of friendship. All he knows is how to live well and care for himself. This bastard may present his “compassionate” face to the world. But here he stands exposed.
EXPOSING Rev. "PASTOR" ERNEST O'NEILL 
As a college student in St. Paul I went to campus Church in its early days. It was led by a man of such charm and wit, not to mention what seemed to be his humble and deep connection to God. My friends and I were young, bright, intelligent, seeking, but also pretty naive. O’Neill’s warm, musical Irish lilt led us easily. I recall the Garden Court clearly. Many of my friends put in long hours to make that happen. It was beautiful and we were proud of it. It was the first time in my life I felt I actually belonged to a church. I drifted along, lulled by that voice, right up to the day O’Neill declared God allowed the Holocaust to occur because He was waiting for Hitler to come to Jesus. I experienced what felt like spiritual whiplash, because I knew absolutely this could not be true (did he actually just say what I think he said????.) I went to church a few more times after that, but really knew I could never take another word he said seriously. Still liked the music, though.
I graduated and moved away. It wasn’t until several years later when I had occasion to talk to a woman who had been a dear friend when we were in college and she told me of O’Neill’s betrayal and abandonment of his congregation. She said she was trying, but she and many others were still trying to pull their lives back together — they had invested so much of themselves over the years. She didn’t go into detail; it was almost as if even then she did not want to speak ill of the man who had been her spiritual advisor, hoping there might be some logical explanation.
I am sorry to hear O’Neill has recreated the scene on the east coast. I hope anyone who is currently lulled by the warm Irish lilt of this man will stumble on this website and then go ask him “tell us what happened in Minneapolis?” And then run. I still feel sad about it. We were not stupid, just young and eager to be part of something bigger than ourselves. I was there, too, kushykush. I just had no idea it was so extensive.
Thank you kind sir. What powerful and sincere comments. O’Neill is a callous opportunist. Yes, he betrayed his congregation. He betrayed his group of “elders”. He betrayed all those good men and women who put in hours and hours of hard work to run his businesses so that he could take his two annual trips to Europe and god knows where.
The most tragic aspect of this is that despite this betrayal there were many Campus churdhers who stuck with him and followed him to North Carolina. I guess they just did not have the courage to stand up for truth and live a life on their own. It is these enablers of O’Neill, the Remanent of Campus Church who have a big hand in resurrecting this sleaze ball.
As I point out on my Website O’Neill is not a good man. How can a good man forget “friends” so easily — friends with whom he spent years., whose youthful years he wasted in his futile enterprises that benefited no one except him.
Thank you friend for speaking up. I am just writing this quick note. But want to communicate and write more.. Regards,
Kush
On Sun, Oct 27, 2013 at 7:58 PM, EXPOSING Rev. "PASTOR" ERNEST
I feel that you don’t state the whole picture here.
Campus Church started in my husband’s family home in the 60’s.
They then moved to a Presbyterian church on the Campus of the U of M. His wife was a dentist and my husband is pretty sure that she payed for the rental of the church, the theater, and the upper rooms of the laundromat where we attended morning Seminars.
During this time they moved to having morning services in the Cedar theatre on Cedar Avenue, on the West bank.
After which, they moved to what later was called the Garden Court Building.
I’m sorry that you have such bitter feelings about this man. He told my husband that his wife financed a lot of the beginnings of the ministry.
I also would like to tell you that O’Neill did care about his elders. The first elder I ever knew there left Campus Church and when O’Neill heard that things were becoming abusive in that couple’s married life, he flew to California to see if he could help. Of course, he would not tell that to people, I just happened to be at dinner at my in-law’s house( O’Neill considered them his American family) and his wife mentioned to my husband’s mom that O’Neill had tried to help but to no avail.
When his associate pastor left, O’Neill did seek him out to mend fences and ask him to come back.
The reason you know little of what O’Neill’s relationship to individuals was, was because he had a policy of not discussing people with others. He also will never lift a finger to defend himself to you. It’s not that he felt he was above that, it’s just that he didn’t think GOD wanted him to do that sort of thing. So you may defame him all you desire to, he will not be answering.
I came to Campus Church in 1973 and I will always be grateful for what I learned there. And ‘yes’ I was one of your “slaves” who helped build the restaurant and worked in it after that. I learned how to walk a CHRIST-centered life.
I remember in one staff meeting when he said,”Someday, this church will fall apart, when it does, don’t try to resurrect it, go out and start over.” A demigog would try to resurrect his idol.
When O’Neill left Campus Church, we were on the mission field. It was years later when I called them in North Carolina and talked to his wife to tell her that my father-in-law had passed away. She said that they left Minnesota because, When they went through the scandal many of the people they thought were their friends had turned on them and they didn’t know who they could trust anymore. It just seemed that no one cared for them. They didn’t know that my father-in-law had died several years past, because they had left their phone number at the church for people who wanted to contact them and when my in-laws never did, they assumed that they no longer wanted to be friends. My in-laws never knew this and thought that O’Neill had abandoned them. When O’Neill returned home he called my husband immediately to convey his condolences and said that his wife had been crying ever since she heard from me.
His wife had said to me in passing,”They all wanted Ernest to file bankruptcy but he never would, he got a job and paid everything back himself.”
Since I was not at Campus Church at the time they left (We were in Germany as missionaries) I know very little of their departure. Isn’t it interesting that you people talk so much about your feelings and forget that this couple who gave so much of their time and lives to that ministry were bruised and broken and the church didn’t seem to care about the constant attacks they went through.
After our internship in Puerto Rico, we moved back to the suburbs and lived too far away to go there on a regular basis.
One day an old friend came to see us and said,”Well, he’s really gone off the deep end now. His teachings have changed so much.” So I decided to go find out for myself. I found a spot way back in the back of the church and got ready to listen. As O’Neill preached I thought,”Same man, Same message. “Nothing had changed. If it had, I would have called him on it. We were never close. How could one man be close personal friends with 1500 people? But I had committed myself to pray for him whenever the LORD lead.
When I was working at the restaurant one of the elders lied to me. My co-workers saw that I was upset and they told O’Neill about it. After work as I was finishing my job, he walked in carrying shou and his briefcase. Setting. both of them down, he querried,”Char, whatever is the problem. He listened to all I had to say very patiently. After we got this straightened out, nothing more was said about it ever. So, I can say ‘yes’ he did care for individuals. I was just one of many.
When we got married, I invited many church members and when I called them to find out if they were coming, they preceded to burn him at the stake. When I asked if they were praying for him, they very adamantly stated,”I wouldn’t pray for that man if he was the last person on earth!”
I was saddened at their hatred.
Obviously, your disliking of a mere man became a hatred when he didn’t perform like the god you all expected him to be.
Char, I was a member of Campus Church when it was in a home on Ashland Ave and would love to connect with them. I was 14 and could have traveled down a much different path if not for this Church. I would like to thank them and Rev O’Neil
Wow – a very recent post! I went to Campus Church in the mid-’70s and remember it fondly. I was never part of any inner circle and have no idea what happened, but now I am very blessed by all the video sermons that are available. I’m living on the East Coast now, and would be very interested in visiting with ONeill if he is visitable in Raleigh. Any idea? Want to talk?
Hi Allen,
I have not been able to track down the the O’Neils and only know where 2 of the early members are. I also would like to visit with him but have not figured out a phone number or address.
Deb
Ashland House in St Paul, The Stable on University Ave, Shekinah House, and one other I don’t recall, were Christian communes where we lived with purity, mutual respect, and we grew together in the Lord. I’m Char’s husband, just chiming in. Really miss those days.
River House up on 25th street was the other one.
What I find so interesting to the posts by you and some of the other ex-Campus Churchers is that, you don’t have a lot of facts just hurtful vengeance.
The O’Neills were frugal people. They had the house and car a long time and with her being a long established dentist they could afford these things.
Also, as I stated in the past blog, if O’Neill absconded with church funds, why did he work to pay whatever debt occurred from the scandal?
When Mrs O’Neill told me about him paying off the debt, it was completely unsolicited information. I never asked her anything about the scandal.
When we were on the mission field I wrote to O’Neill and asked a doctrinal question. I wasn’t sure he’d answer because he was always very busy, but he wrote me a letter and I found out that he still had time for someone who had not been a member for many years.
I don’t think he had a very large salary. But with two incomes in their family and no children, they had more available funds to devote to more things.
Every leader of a mission based organization travels to their missions about once a year to encourage and oversee the workings of the groups. Of course, he’d go to England to visit the bookstore. And he probably went to Ireland because his family was there and it wasn’t that far from England. The other country was probably one of the other teams.
They were so wealthy that when they did remodeling.in their home O’Neill did it himself rather than hire someone.
Campus Church was never meant to be a family church. It was a place devoted to college students. I think that when families started becoming a big issue it was simply a situation that the church had not prepared for.
I remember one of the elders told me that when you made an appointment to counsel with him his secretary would schedule it for several weeks later because the LORD usually would have answered your problem with out his intervention.
I knew another pastor who drove a Porsche. And you could have said the same kind of things about him. He had a huge house on lakefront property and drove a Porsche to church every Sunday. His wife brought their 9 children in a large van.
This can look like lavish living until you know the rest of the story. He also was a corporate lawyer, and a client gave him that car.
To accuse someone of things without understanding can become nothing but slander.
When people try to point out your obvious bitterness, (proven by your name calling and unkind remarks when people try to point out your vengeful comments), you talk down to them.
I have to say that if you are now a Humanist, it is not O’Neill’s
fault. I have experienced situations where what I said to someone got twisted by satan, and they.heard something completely different. Many arguments start this way. I believe some of the problems can happen from just such a situation. It’s one of the ways the devil causes descention in the Body of CHRIST.
Don’t put down people who have been blessed by his sermons. You may not agree with them but they deserve common courtesy and acceptance of the fact that they experiences were different from yours.
Hi Char,
Thank you for what you shared. I can tell that you have a tender heart for Ernest and his wife, Many people who attended Campus Church would be less than honest, I believe, if they said they never experienced some of the same tender care and personal attention from Ernest that you and your husband obviously did. Many have told me that they did, and over the years that I spent in London he would often relate a letter he received from some former member or elder that thanked him for what they had learned from him. I came to consider both of them my friends and I still do, even though we have been separated by a divergence of thought regarding grace and salvation. I don’t hold any bitterness towards them. I was saddened that they decided not to communicate with me the last week I was in London. Perhaps they believed so strongly that I was doing the wrong thing that it was their way of communicating to me that they believed I was going against God’s will in doing so. Perhaps they felt it was some sort of tough love. I can say that I shed many tears in the weeks proceeding my departure. He had become like a father to me. So it wasn’t easy for me to leave London, but I believed and still do that it was God’s plan for me.
I can tell that you are baffled, and dare I say a bit hurt, that many of the postings on this blog are bitter toward Ernest and his wife. I am saddened by the way Kush has felt the need to attack Ernest and those that followed him. I believe that Campus Church helped Kush come to the U.S. from India through the ministry of the Braby’s. I only knew him a little through mutual friends. I am saddened that he has lost his way and turned his back on Jesus. I wouldn’t say that Ernest had much to do with that. Most of the people who attended Campus Church have gone on to other churches and other ministries and have not done what Kush has done. Jesus did tell his disciples the parable of the sower to warn them about the way that Satan and the world would work to keep the truth of God’s word from working in human hearts. So we shouldn’t be surprised when someone ends up following a path that leads away from Jesus. God is sovereign and when he does get a hold of a person he does not let them go. Therefore, prayer to God for such a one as Kush can change things.
As for the bitterness itself, there are probably some sides to Ernest O’Neill and his wife that you never saw. Just as each of us has sides to our lives that are not seen by everyone at the same time. For a long time I never understood the anger and bitterness that many felt. I didn’t understand why some felt betrayed. If I ever had thoughts that maybe there was something to the break up of Campus Church that was the fault of Ernest he came through in some way that restored my confidence that he was a kind and caring leader. Up until the time that I left London I pretty much thought the whole thing was just a misunderstanding. I understood that Campus Church was a church with a missionary vision and was not meant to be family oriented. It was meant to send people out. I always thought the problem was that many who started with the church from the beginning had begun to raise families and their priorities changed and therefore the problem was that their vision and that of Ernest had ceased to take the same course.
I was still in Minneapolis for the first half of the disintegration of Campus Church, and to be honest I did not understand why it happened, I could not understand why many members of the Church and Fish Enterprises did not want Ernest to be the pastor and president any longer. My experience of him and been much the same as yours. His wife was my dentist and for a little while, and just before I went to London she had closed her practice and had come into the businesses. So I had the opportunity to work along side her and I appreciated her willingness to be a part of our vision. Some would say, “Of course, that is what a pastor’s wife is supposed to do.” But that was not what she thought. She was a career woman and a bit of a feminist and she had to make it in a man’s world, which was what dentistry was in the days when they came over from England. She was never the typical pastor’s wife and to be honest, did anyone ever have the right to demand that of her. I didn’t get involved in what was going on because I thought the Lord wanted me to be supportive of my leaders. So I did not know the reasons for the elders resigning and members leaving the church. It was only after I came back from London 5 years ago that I had the opportunity to read some of the material that was presented the the Reconciliation Commission that was an attempt to save the church. Upon reading that material I understood better what were the reasons many felt betrayed and hurt.
I believe Kush has gone way over the top with his accusations against Ernest. But with many members coming forward on these pages to express their experiences with Campus Church and Ernest O’Neill I think you should at least be open to the possibility that Ernest may have some reconciling to do. In your discourse above you quote Ernest from a staff meeting in that he said, ”Someday, this church will fall apart, when it does, don’t try to resurrect it, go out and start over.” Then you said, “A demigog would try to resurrect his idol.” I think you are misunderstanding the nature of Ernest’s idol Char. It was never the church. It has always been Christian Corp and his idea of creating Christian Businesses world wide that would express the life of Jesus to the lost souls that it interacted with every day. And that is the idol that he is trying to keep alive everyday, even though it is now down to 13 souls, who interact with very few other Christians and other ministries and run just one small business. He has now decided the main work of their ministry is the on the Internet, were they can reach the 10,000 we never did as Campus Church. I know, in this day of mega churches it is easy to try to judge the validity of a ministry by the numbers it brings in or brings to conversion. But you have to ask yourself is this really all the Lord intended it to be. I don’t know, “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”
Romans 11:34.
You have at least reminded my of some of the moments when the O’Neill’s touched my life. Moments and thoughts that are good. But those moments are no less tainted by the things that Ernest obviously got wrong. Things that are brought to light in the material from the Reconciliation Commission. Things that did cause hurt and pain. I pray for my friends in Raleigh, and London and Thailand. I pray that they will experience God’s grace and once again turn outward as they turn upward. I pray that they will once again see that they need the body and that the body needs them.
Even so Lord, come quickly.
Joe
Hi Joe, Thanks for writing. I don’t know anything of the business in Raliegh.
I am very limited in what I know of the break up of the Church here in Minnesota, or why it happened. I only shared what I know.
In any case there is no godly reason for bitterness or hatred and I don’t know how anyone can come at another human being for not doing what only GOD can do.
I never saw O’Neill as a flawless human being. I just saw him as an ordinary Christian trying to teach what he had learned.
Maybe that’s why I don’t have antagonistic thoughts toward the man.
HE was a part of my life at the beginning of my spiritual walk. GOD had just told me that it was time to learnve the Catholic church and I was looking for the next step in my life. My high school teacher, Lorraine Peterson brought me to Campus Church, when I asked her where she went to church.
At the time, I was working as a dish washer at a girl’s boarding home, and reading Practice of the Presence of GOD, by Brother Lawrence. I had determined that if I could find Christians who were living like he did, I’d be home.
The first time I heard O’Neill speak I knew I’d found what I was looking for and attended regularly for about three years before going off to Bethany Fellowship to missionary training.
The first Sunday I attended Seminars I met my future husband and five years later we were married with Lorraine as my maid of honor.
I gained a wonderful spiritual base for my Christian life at Campus and Bethany and wouldn’t change any of it.
People are human, and I feel that none of us agree on everything, so as long as you belong to JESUS, I’ll let the LORD sort out the rest. Karnataka, Come LORD JESUS. char
l typed Maranatha, Come LORD JESUS, but for some reason my Kindle changes things at times
O’Neill’s home in Raleigh is on the market for $775,000. To see it Google Caldwell Banker, Raleigh, NC, Wyndfield Circle. Interior/exterior photos are on that site.
I haven’t thought about Campus Church and Earnest O’Neill in many years so running across this website is very interesting. I was involved in the mid-70’s, lived in the Stable and worked in Fish Industries. I had come from a solid Christian family so was pretty well-grounded in my faith and, when I sensed the church was becoming “cultish” I got the heck out. It was emotionally difficult to leave because I had signed on for a life-time commitment but, thankfully, saw the light. I don’t really hold anything against Rev. O’Neill. I think his heart was in the right place, at least initially. The big problem I saw was that he wasn’t accountable to anyone and that’s why the whole ministry went off the rails, so to speak. Many of the young people who were part of this ministry were new Christians and weren’t able to sort out the truth. It was an interesting experience and I have no regrets.
Mary La! It’s a personal joy to see your input here! After getting discipled by a missionary couple in Japan (my Air Force assignment), my parents told me of Ernest’s ministry at the U. He had been shunned so to speak from Park Ave Methodist Church because they did NOT want to hear about the Holy Spirit, so those who wanted to continue began meeting in my folk’s home. For me, coming to CC was an obvious next step in growing with the Lord. In the summer of ’71, the Cedar Theater was SRO every Sunday Morning; even the stage scaffolding for constructing play props etc were loaded with eager listeners. Carpet squares up and down the aisles were likewise occupied; thankfully no one reported us to the fire marshal. It was there that I began to learn of the importance of the Holy Spirit’s ministry in our lives. Despite my folks’ close friendship with Ernest and Irene, I never had it – he was just my pastor. I loved him and learned from him, but needed more. Living at the Stable helped, but immature leadership by some “elders” did not. I was still so immature and needing guidance that God led me to Bethany, where I began to see the life lived out en masse. The classes there and the godly faculty pushed me to go deeper – and Ernest taught classes there. Mary, I remember you for your stability of character and artistic talents in Fish Ceramics. Good to reconnect.
Its all about Jesus Christ.
Hi Kush,
Regarding your denial of being married et al.:
• You had an affair with a female member of the London team in the early 1980’s at the large house that the team moved into (after leaving the Etonwick house near Windsor Castle). This woman isn’t the woman that you married. When this became known to the London elder Myron Kliewer (sp?), he was so shocked that he didn’t know what to do and consequently turned it over to O’Neill in the U.S. to take care of. O’Neill told Myron, I believe, that both of you should return to Minnesota, which both of you did. This had to be a difficult time for you and her and for Myron and O’Neill. This situation isn’t and wasn’t widely known among Campus Church members, but knowledge of this affair and its subsequent repercussions is very well known within a smaller but considerable circle of Campus Church members. It caused great turmoil and heartache among those involved – not just you.
• Furthermore, there are several people who I personally know for a fact who were at your wedding several years later to another woman, CW, who was pregnant at the time of the wedding. There are a good handful of others who I could guess were probably at that wedding as well. Leighton Carlson performed the wedding ceremony. This was after your return to Minnesota. Again, the woman you married was not the woman you had the affair with in London. If anyone cared to do so, an in-person search through the public documents at the Hennepin County Government Center (HCGC) in downtown Minneapolis would show a marriage certificate with your name and hers.
• Furthermore, I myself visited the apartment that you and your wife CW had on Hamline Avenue, just south of Larpenteur Avenue in St. Paul. I was saddened later to hear that your wife miscarried your baby at some point in her pregnancy. My sincere condolences go to you regarding the death of your unborn child. Surely you must wonder “What if…” about this unborn child of yours.
• A separate in-person search at HCGC would also show documentation of your later divorce from CW. Many years after this, ca.1999 or so, I ran into your ex-wife at the church that my wife and I attended in Roseville. She didn’t look very well. The topic of her marriage to you didn’t come up. Kush, surely you have some remnant of concern about this woman that you were attracted to enough at a point in your two lives to win her affections.
• Kush, to deny all this undermines your credibility on all of the issues you raise regarding O’Neill. Some of the issues you raise about O’Neill are valid and accurate. • In the summer of 1984, I was one of many who tried to confront O’Neill about his abuses of power. It took my wife and me and so many of our friends so very many years to get over the disillusionment we felt after deciding to leave Campus Church. But get over it we did.
• Your arguments against the credibility of Christianity are weak, although your critique of O’Neill’s citation of a remark from Einstein is accurate. O’Neill’s arguments in defence of Christianity had some weaknesses, yes. Referencing links to atheists like Richard Dawkins is great – because Dawkins is laughable in his argumentation.
• Kush, although you may well not remember me, I always enjoyed the brief and occasional interactions you and I would have from time to time at Campus Church. I’m saddened by the continued grudge you apparently hold against O’Neill and by the denials you make about the nature of your own intimate involvements with these two female members of Campus Church and Christian Corps International. But I wish you well, as so many wounded hearts from Campus Church have dealt with their wounds and have gone on to lead – in the broadest sense of this word – prosperous lives. I wish the same for you.
Does anyone know what Pastor ONeill is up to these days? Is he still living in/near Raleigh? How is his health & mind? I would love to visit him next time I’m in that area, but don’t know how to locate him.
As mentioned on this blog above, I’m a former U of M student in the ’70’s, with many fond memories of CC. I’d love to tell him that I still listen to his recorded sermons from that time.
Might still be able to find them here…….
https://www.whitepages.com/name/Ernest-William-Oneill-Sr./Raleigh-NC/15ctrma7